Hello kidlets. Here we are with another installment of my non-stop prattle and pseudo-intellectualism dressed in folksy pleasantries. It has been a good couple days off and it is nice to sit drinking coffee and relaxing.

First some thoughts about antennas. Some people like Yagis, some prefer verticals and some like dipoles. The whole thing comes down to a matter of preference. If you are out activating or working portable in general, you want the best antenna that will fit your budget. When I am portable, I generally use “Hamsticks” which are mag mounted verticals. I have also used dipoles and other types of antennae such as “Buddisticks”. Some take along verticals that they made based on “Wolf River Coils”. I am not going to tell you which to use, I can only state what works best for me. I would rather not have anything conspicuous. I also hesitate to hang anything from trees unless absolutely necessary. It is part of my nature to be un-noticed and in parks, I want to stay under the rangers’ radar and leave only my footprints. As an aside, if you are using an arborist bag and it wraps around a limb, the best way to free it is to tie a moderately heavy stick to the other end of the throw line and throw the stick over the branch in the opposite direction as the bag is wound. You do that as many times as necessary to pull it free.

Today SWMBO and I activated Gettysburg National Military Park US-0027, one of my favorites. Culps Hill was deserted when we arrived and in the 45 minutes we were there we saw less that 8 people. I watched an older couple get out of their car with their dog who pulled them over to the tower. We did depart before they descended. Anyway, the activation went very will. I stayed on 40 M and worked 47 stations in about 40 minutes. Not too bad. Towards the end there were a couple stations that had moved in about 2 up from us in the band but they were not strong enough to really be a bother. As for birds, the only one my software heard was a red-bellied woodpecker. Afterwards we stopped off at Hollabaugh Brothers farm stand.

We did our groceries and then went home. As we were eating our lunch, SWMBO had a tooth that had been repaired about 25 years ago break. The good thing was that she had had a root canal back then and she wasn’t in any pain. We finally found a dentist who could take us on short notice as our dentist was busy. We got her looked and, in the process, got a new dentist. That whole ordeal destroyed other plans we might have had but I am glad we got things resolved.

Oh yeah! I can hear again! I had one of my ears get clogged, so I syringed the hell out of it and saved myself a trip to the doctor and a bill. Life is good. Well kids, time to close. Namaste and keep your stick on the ice!